Drama (from the Greek drew, I act), is a class of writings which almost entirely consist of dialogue, persons being represented as acting and speaking, and the pieces being usually intended to be acted on a stage by parties assuming the characters of the respective persons.
Its two great branches are tragedy and comedy, the former, roughly speaking, melancholy in character, the latter cheerful. The origin of the drama must be sought for in the love of imitation, and dramatic performances of some kind are to be met with probably among all nations.
Dramatic compositions are found in the Old Testament, for example in Job and the Song of Solomon; and ancient India and China both developed a dramatic literature of their own.
The European drama bad its origin in Greece. Both forms, tragic and comic, took their rise in the celebrations of the Greek festivals of Dionysus (Bacchus), at which hymns and chants were sung by choruses in honour of the god, and the chorus continued to be a prominent feature of the old Greek drama. Greek comedy commenced about 580-560 BC with Susarion, but it was long in attaining regular form. Of the old Greek comedy the chief representatives were Oratinus, Eupolis, Pherecrates, and Aristophanes - the last the greatest.
The invention of tragedy is generally ascribed to Thespis about 530 BC, who was followed by Phrynichus. But the true creator of tragedy was Aeschylus, in whose works and those of Sophocles and Euripides it found its most perfect expression. Thespis had only one actor, who from time to time relieved the chorus by declamation. Aeschylus changed this representation into real action by making use of two actors in addition to the chorus. Aeschylus also introduced masks; and by means of a long gown and the cothurnus, or buskin, the lofty stature of the heroes was imitated. A third actor was first introduced by Sophocles. The accommodations for the spectators were improved, and machinery and scenery introduced. The theatres, which had been formerly built of wood, were now large stone erections, capable of containing the greater number of the citizens. The regular drama among the Romans was borrowed from the Greeks. Plautus and Terence were imitators of the Greek comedy, Livius Andronicus (240 BC) of the Greek tragedy. Of the Roman tragedy, the dramas of Seneca are the only specimens extant.
In most modern European countries the regular drama took its rise in the mysteries, miracle-plays, and moralities of the middle ages. In Italy, however, it began with a reproduction in Latin of classical models. The earliest tragedy in Italian is Trissino's Sofonisba (1502). Regular comedies in Italian were written by Ariosto, Aretino, Macchiavelli, and others; and to the same period (15th and 16th centuries) belongs the Italian Pastoral Drama, which sprung from the ancient idylls, and aimed at a fanciful delineation of Arcadian and mythological scenes. Among the pastoral dramatists of this period are Poliziano, Tasso, and Guarini. The pastorals gave birth to the opera, early masters of which, so far as it may be included in the poetic drama, are Zenoand Metastasio. The Italian drama waned in the 17th century, but in the 18th genuine comedy and classic tragedy were restored, the former by Goldoni, the latter by Alfieri. Monti, Manzoni, and Niccolini are among the later writers of tragedy.
The other European nations cultivated the dramatic art much later than the Italians. The English and Spaniards devoted their attention to it almost at the game time; the former reaching their acme in William Shakespeare, the latter in Lope de Vega and Calderon. The history of the English theatre and the drama is naturally divided into two parts, the first of which begins with the reign of Elizabeth I and ends with the reign of Charles I. The rapid developmentof the drama during the reign of Elizabeth I was entirely unhampered by foreign influence. Lyly, Peele, Greene, Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletchor, Chapman, Webster, Middleton, Marston, Ford,and Massinger are among the chief names connected with the brilliant period of the English drama.
During the Commonwealth the Puritans prohibited all kinds of plays, and the theatres were shut up for thirteen years. With Charles II the drama reappeared, and exhibited a licentiousness hardly equalled by that of any other Christian nation. Among the chief names belonging to this period are Dryden, Otway, Lee, Shadwell, Wycherley, and Etherege. From the close of the 17th to that of the 18th century British comedy was cultivated with much success by Cibber, Farquhar, Congreve, Sheridan, and others.
During the 19th century many writers have been conspicuous by their dramas. Among the chief of these may be noted Byron, Coleridge, Landor, Shelley, Maturin, Talfourd, Milman, Sir Henry Taylor, the first LordLytton, Knowles, R. H. Home, Arnold, Browning, Swinburne, and Tennyson. Among other 19th-century writers for the stage, who, however, may be called playwrights rather than dramatists, may be named, Douglas Jerrold, Tom Taylor, Charles Reade, Thomas Robertson, W. G. Wills, H. Byron, R. Buchanan, Dion Boucicault, W. S. Gilbert, J. M. Barrie, A. W. Pinero, H. A. Jones, etc.
The French drama was in a miserable state before Corncille (1606-84), who indeed is looked on as the founder of the drama in France. Racine, Moliere, Voltaire, and in later times Hugo, are some of the other distinguished French dramatists. Since about 1820 a new dramatic school has been formed in France, which, departing from the ancient strictness of what is called the classic, approaches more and more to the German or British, or what is called the romantic school. The establishment of this school formed part of the general reaction against the excessive adherence to classic models in literature, the leader in the movement being Victor Hugo. C. Delavigne marks the transition from the classical to the beginnings of the romantic school, and among the 19th century dramatists may be mentioned A. de Vigny, George Sand, A. de Musset, Merimee, Ponsard, Augier, Scribe, Dumas the Younger, and Sardou.
The German drama is of later birth than any thus far mentioned, and for a long time the Germans contented themselves with translations and adaptations from the French. Leasing was the first who, by word and deed, broke the French sway (1755), and he was succeeded by Schiller and Goethe, who rank as the greatest of the more modern dramatists. Prominent names in the German drama are Kotzebue, Korner, Schlegel, Tieck, Brentano, Grillparzer, Hebbel, Ludwig, Gutzkow, Freytag, Laube, Von Moser, etc.
The Dutch drama begins with the classical tragedies of Koster in the beginning of the 17th century, and reached its highest in Vondel (1587-1659). Holberg, Heiberg, Oehlenschlager, Ibsen, and Bjornson are the chief names connected with the Scandinavian drama.
The advent of moving pictures during the 20th century revolutionised drama, and introduced film or movies to the audience, with the USA quickly developing a reputation for film making based in Hollywood, and by the end of the 20th century the Indian city of Mumbai had become a leading center of Hindi language film making producing more films than even Hollywood. Research Drama
Tale of a Tub is a satirical poem written by Jonathan Swift in 1696, and first published anonymously in 1704. The satire is directed against church divisions and deals with three brothers: Peter (the Church of Rome), Martin (Luther) and Jack (Calvin). It is generally accepted that the poem prevented Jonathan Swift's preferment to a bishopric. Research Tale of a Tub
Francis Beaumont was a British dramatist. He was born in 1584 at Gracedieu in Lincolnshire and died in 1616. He studied at Oxford and entered the Inner temple in 1600. At the age of sixteen he published a translation, in verse, of Ovid's fable of Salmacis and Hermaphroditus, and before nineteen became the friend of Ben Jonson. With John Fletcher also he was early on terms of friendship. He married Ursula, daughter of Henry Isley of Sundridge, in Kent, by whom he left two daughters. With his partner John Fletcher he wrote 'The Knight of the Burning Pestle'. Research Francis Beaumont
Richard Corbet was an English bishop and poet. He was born in 1582 and died in 1635. He was educated at Westminster school and Christ Church, Oxford, took orders, became university proctor, and was appointed one of the royal chaplains by James I. After being dean of Christ Church he was made bishop of Oxford in 1624, and was translated to Norwich in 1632. He had a life-long reputation as a wit, jester, and convivial spirit, and was on intimate terms with Ben Jonson. His poems are mostly satiric and humorous, but one of the best known, a lament for the fairies, is in a more serious vein. Research Richard Corbet
Thomas Carew was a British poet. He was born in 1595 and died in 1639. Educated at Oxford, he cultivated polite literature in the midst of a life of affluence and gaiety, and was the subject of much eulogy by Ben Jonson, Davenant, and other writers of the period. His works are masques, lyrics, and sonnets, and were first printed in 1640. Thomas Carew is coupled with Waller as one of the improvers of English versification. Research Thomas Carew
Thomas Dekker (Thomas Decker, Thomas Deckar) was an English dramatist and writer. He was born in 1570 and died in 1641. He wrote plays which provide a view of contemporary life in London. Among these are: Old Fortunatus, Shoemaker's Holiday, Satiromastix, The Honest Whore, etc. He also collaborated with Massinger, Ford, Middleton, Jonson, and others. A quarrel with Ben Jonson occasioned that poet's Poetaster, and the Satiromastix of Dekker. Research Thomas Dekker
Thomas Hobbes was a British philosopher. He was born in 1588 at Malmesbury and died in 1679. He was educated at Oxford, and afterwards travelled on the Continent as a tutor in the Earl of Devonshire's family, becoming acquainted with Gassendi, Descartes, Galileo, etc. He was also intimate with LordBacon (some of whose works he translated into Latin), LordHerbert of Cherbury, and Ben Jonson.
From 1637 to 1641 he resided much at Chatsworth, but becoming alarmed at the probability of political commotions, he went to Paris. He stayed abroad some years, and during that time published most of his works. He also taught mathematics to the Prince of Wales (later Charles II), then in Paris, who after the restoration gave him a pension of 100 pounds. He spent his latter days with the Devonshire family.
The most remarkable of his works is his Leviathan, or the Matter, Form, and Power of a Commonwealth (published in 1651). Other works are De Give (1642), De Corpore Politico (1650), De Libertate, Necessitate et Casu (1654), and Behemoth, a history of the civil war, published after his death. He also published a metrical version of the Iliad and Odyssey.
In the history of the development of free thought in Europe Thomas Hobbes holds an important place, and he was one of the first great English writers on government. He conceived the state of nature to be one in which all are at war with each other, and government as the result of a compact, suggested by selfishness, for the sake of peace and protection. Absolute rule was the best form of government, but this is qualified by the assertion that obedience to a ruler is only due so long as he can afford protection to the subject. The philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, so depreciated among his contemporaries, has been more or less adopted by Locke, Hartley, Hume, and Priestley, and his ideas on government formed the foundation of the utilitarianism of the Benthamites. Research Thomas Hobbes
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